HQVA press release:

Husqvarna Enduro Racing Team rider Lachy Stanford has shaken off the disappointment of a lacklustre endurocross season in no uncertain terms, breaking through for his first ever Australian Off-Road Championship Outright podium.

This year’s series kicked off in hot and dusty conditions over the weekend at Kilkivan, near Gympie in Queensland, and Stanford was one of very few riders to get to grips with the surroundings on the opening day, finishing third outright and second in the E2 class, before backing up to be sixth outright and fourth in class today.

Defending AORC Outright Champion Toby Price won both rounds over the weekend, as well as the E3 class for big bores, ahead of Daniel Sanders and the Husqvarna Enduro Racing Team’s Glenn Kearney, who was competing in his first national level event since off-season surgery to fuse his right ankle.

Kearney has adopted a radical new Clake handlebar-mounted brake system which combines a clutch and a rear brake lever neatly into the same perch, but conceded that he is still fine tuning the new riding style to match his new physical and mechanical configuration. Kearney powered his Husqvarna FE501 to third in the E3 class on both days.

Fifteen-year-old Brisbane racer Fraser Higlett, who just a fortnight ago completed a three-round domination of the Enduro-X Nationals Junior class, got his AORC off to a sparkling start, winning the Junior category on both days, aboard a Husqvarna FE 250.

Glenn Kearney: “I’m really happy, firstly with Lachy who stepped up to the plate like we really hoped he would. He did an awesome job; his first ever AORC outright podium, so it was a really good start to the year for him. Exactly what we hoped for. We talked about it and last year’s goals were for him to be top 10 consistently, but this year we’ve cut that in half, and I think he is definitely going to be a top five guy all the time. Hopefully he can get some podiums and some wins a little further down the track.For me, I’m happy. Two podiums in E3 is a good start considering five weeks ago I was still hobbling around, so to be competitive is a real positive. I kind of thought I’d still be a little bit more off the pace, but after today I was only 0.7 of a second behind Chucky for second in E3, and maybe six seconds or so out of fifth outright. So while I’m back in the results, it’s only by a little bit that’s lacking. I think with another four weeks to get my head around this clutch system, I can be right back on the pace.”

Lachy Stanford: “A lot of questions were answered this weekend for me. After the endurocross I was doubting myself a little bit, so getting a third outright and a second in E2 yesterday was really a confidence boost. I proved to myself that I was up there, I almost won a test and was winning outright for a little bit there. So I really needed that, that was awesome! Round two today I made a little mistake, I overshot a corner and was on the wrong side of the fence, so I had to do a big U-turn and with the field being so tight this year, one mistake and you go backwards. But it was a solid result, and I got through cleanly with no crashes at all, so I’m pretty happy with where I finished. I think I’ve got more in the bag, and I’m looking forward to round three and four.”

For more information on Husqvarna motorcycles visit www.husqvarna-motorcycles.com.